


Something Left to Love

by QueenElsaThropp



Category: Frozen (2013), The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-30
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3706947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenElsaThropp/pseuds/QueenElsaThropp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elphaba ends up in Arendelle after leaving Oz. Arendelle brings her things she never would have imagined. Goes through Frozen and continues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Adventures in Solitude

Elphaba took one last look behind her as the broom ascended above the Emerald City, hoping to catch just one last glimpse of Glinda, her best- and only- friend. When she had no luck, she turned forward, aiming for the Great Kells. They- she and Fiyero- couldn’t return to Kiamo Ko, not after just having left. Fiyero hadn’t wanted to fly over the Emerald City, but as best friend and ex-fiancé respectively, Elphaba and Fiyero were obligated to check on Glinda, even if she didn’t know they were there. All of a sudden, Elphaba felt Fiyero’s straw body jerk upwards.  
“Fiyero? Fiyero! Are you okay?” she asked, panicking slightly. After all, no one quite knew how turning into a scarecrow affected one’s functions.  
“Huh? Elphie, I’m fine. I just, uh, almost fell off. I kind of don’t have a spine, but really, I’m fine,” he said.  
“Oh, Yero, I’m really sorry. It’s just, I was so scared when they took you away, and I’ve never been good at reading the Grimmerie, and I just did the first spell that looked vaguely helpful,” Elphaba explained, near tears.  
“I’m alive. And we’re together. Headed...wait, where are we going?” Fiyero questioned, looking at the familiar yet strangely unfamiliar landscape whizzing by below them as Elphaba’s broomstick flew ever higher and ever due north.  
“I don’t know yet. Past Kiamo Ko. Past the Great Kells. All I know for sure is that we have to leave Oz,” murmured Elphaba. As she said it, it really hit her for the first time: she was leaving Oz. Sure, she’d never had much fondness for the place itself, and goodness knows the Wizard was an idiot and most certainly not wonderful, but she had so many memories in Oz- Glinda, Nessa, Dr. Dillamond. Sighing to herself, Elphaba blinked back tears as she corrected the broom’s direction. Fiyero smiled sadly at her back, assuming correctly that her sigh was one of sadness for the life they were leaving behind.  
“We’re together, Elphie. Glinda will manage- she’ll be ruler of Oz now, I suppose. But we’ll all be fine. Maybe one day we can even go back and visit her,” Fiyero whispered into Elphaba’s ear, resting his straw head against her back. She smiled to herself as they flew into a new life together.

At the very second that Elphaba had kicked off from the field at Kiamo Ko, Elsa had taken her first ice-creating step onto the fjord around Arendelle. Blinking back tears as she heard Anna call after her, Elsa raced across the fjord to the relief of her isolation on the North Mountain.  
As she built her castle, Elsa knew she had to let go of everything from her past. As she climbed the staircase, Elsa paused at the entrance to her room. Closing her eyes, she pulled out the small green bottle that was the only piece of her past she had left. On the day of the monarch’s departure from Arendelle, her mother had taken her aside to tell her that the King of Arendelle was not her father. The nearest kingdom, Oz, was apparently the place to search for answers- and just a day’s boat ride away. Elsa had had plenty of time to consider her mother’s final words to her, and had decided to investigate her past as soon as she was coronated. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like Elsa would be learning much more than survival skills in the next few days. Looking at the bottle, with half its label missing, Elsa created a small ice safe for the bottle. She knew that, no matter how hard she tried, the identity of her father was a piece of her past she couldn’t lay to rest until she knew who he was.  
Ascending the final steps to her room, Elsa stifled a gasp as she pushed the icy door open. The room was an exact replica of the one she and Anna had shared until the accident- until the King had realized she wasn’t his daughter, the truthful part of her mind insisted. Knowing this was true, Elsa sat down on her bed, letting a few tears fall for the first time since leaving Arendelle. No one was here to see her upset, or to be hurt by her deeply ingrained fear of herself and lack of control, so Elsa felt secure in feeling for the first time in forever. Sunset found her in the same place: curled up on her bed, staring at the bed that would have been Anna’s (had she been in Arendelle’s palace), a few last tears creeping out from the corners of her eyes as she tried to fall asleep.

Elphaba and Fiyero had set up camp just north of the Great Kells, using her broom, cape, and a tree to form a makeshift tent. Fiyero had fallen asleep nearly instantly, but Elphaba found herself unable to rest. Rolling off of Fiyero’s chest, she pulled her hat towards her. Sewn on the underside of the front brim was a small scrap of cloth, with a crest of some sort on it. She was fairly sure the flower was a crocus. All she knew was that her father had told her- shortly after Nessa’s birth, in fact- that she was not related to either himself or Melena. He’d given her this scrap of cloth then, and she’d sewed it into the hat Glinda had given her once she was at Shiz. Beyond the crest, the only hint of her past was one word- Arendelle. The only thing any searches in the Shiz history books had turned up was an obscure reference to a kingdom about a day away by broom (according to Boq’s hurried calculations, done between classes on her last day at Shiz). It seemed that she, along with these less-than-helpful clues, had been left with Melena- her adoptive mother, Elphaba reminded herself- one day when Frex had been off evangelizing in a nearby village. Looking back, she supposed her mysterious origins were the real reason Nessa had been so favored. Elphaba suspected her parents had loved her in a way, but Nessarose had always been the clear favorite. Shaking her head to push away those memories, Elphaba refocused her attention on the flower crest.  
As Elphaba fell asleep, still angry at the parents she’d never known, she felt her magic surge. The moment she fell asleep, she found herself floating above Glinda- or her dream-self was there, above Glinda. This wasn’t the first time this had happened- if she fell asleep angry, her magic took her dreams to the present moment wherever she wanted to be. Elphaba’s dream-self looked down at Glinda sadly. The blonde sat on her bed- her very, very pink bed- crying.  
“Pink goes good with green. Elphie, we were supposed to be living here together, in the Emerald City. But instead I’m here, the Wizard’s gone, Madame Morrible’s in jail, Boq’s a tin man, Fiyero’s a missing straw man, Nessa’s dead, and for all I know, you’re de…dead too!” Glinda sobbed, curling up on her pink bed, suddenly looking much younger and more vulnerable than Elphaba had ever seen her before. Elphaba wanted so badly to reach out and comfort Glinda, but she could feel her body waking up.  
“I’m sorry, Glinda. I’ll come back one day, I promise,” Elphaba said as her dream-self was whisked back. When she woke up, Fiyero was looking at her in concern.  
“Hey Elphie. I guess you’re up, then. We’d better get going, we’re not quite out of Oz yet,” Fiyero said, smiling.  
“Oh, of course. Yero, I saw her. Glinda. In my dream. I think…I think she’ll manage. She thinks I’m dead and you’re missing, but…we can’t go back for her yet,” Elphaba told Fiyero, climbing aboard the broom and reaching her hand out to him. Taking her hand, Fiyero swung up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.  
“I guess that’s why you were so restless last night. Because you were dreaming about Glinda,” Fiyero shouted as they flew into the wind. Elphaba nodded, eye fixed steadfastly on the mountains ahead.  
A few hours later, she pulled the broom to an abrupt halt, shaking Fiyero awake. Rubbing his eyes blearily, he looked at the ground below.  
“Where are we? What happened? Why are we stopped?” Fiyero fired off his questions in rapid succession, hoping to get a response from the suddenly quiet women on the broom in front of him.  
“Fiyero, as soon as we pass this last mountain, we’ll have left Oz. For good,” Elphaba said quietly. Fiyero was shocked into silence as he and Elphaba really took in what it meant to be leaving their homeland. Finally, Elphaba pulled the front of the broom up.  
“Let’s go, Fiyero. The sooner the better,” she said. Steeling herself, Elphaba resolutely steered the broom out of Oz, out of the past, into a new life and the future.

Elsa hadn’t had quite the night Elphaba had had, but it had been equally emotional. Elsa had dreamt up a thousand ways that that fateful night with Anna could have gone better or worse, and every scenario altered what she did, leaving everything else the same. What if she’d built the snow hills ahead of Anna, instead of after each jump? What if she hadn’t made the ballroom quite so icy? Or, most dramatically, what if Elsa hadn’t agreed to play with Anna that night? Where would she be now? Probably sitting in the palace, ready for her first day as queen of Arendelle.  
Instead, here she was, sitting up in a bed perfect for an eight-year-old but far too small for a queen of twenty-one years, stretching to wake herself up. As she left the bedroom, Elsa created an ice lock on the door- if the past was in the past, she needed to truly live by that, starting with moving out of her childhood bedroom- again.  
Walking down the staircase, Elsa found a door near the bottom of the first flight. Assuming it must be the room for the current monarch, she pulled open the door. Instead of a bedroom, she found a windowless, yet well-lit, room full of…icy blocks on the wall. Realizing it was the palace’s art gallery, Elsa walked across the room, gravitating towards the spot that belonged to Joan of Arc.  
“I think some company is overdue; I’ve started talking to the pictures on the walls,” Elsa sang quietly, remembering all the times Anna would beg her to come and build a snowman.  
Elsa shook her head in frustration. She didn’t, no, she couldn’t, want the past anymore. With a snap of her fingers, all rooms corresponding to one in Arendelle’s palace had locks on the doors.  
Descending the last steps to the large, empty room on the ground floor, Elsa noted with relief that this floor at least bore no resemblance to Arendelle. Walking through a small archway directly opposite the castle gates, she found herself in a chamber of rooms, perfect, in fact, as her new bedroom and such. Entering the largest of the rooms, she began to decorate, making a conscious effort not to recreate anything of Arendelle. When she had finished, Elsa wandered out onto the snow outside the gates.  
Breathing in the cold air, she looked at the open sky. Suddenly, she realized that she wasn’t used to being alone. During her thirteen years of self-isolation, she could at least count on Anna knocking at her door each morning. Being truly alone, as she was now, was exhilarating yet terrifying. There were no rights, no wrongs, no rules. While Elsa was ready to move on with her life, she missed hearing other voices already.  
Strolling absentmindedly along the mountaintop, Elsa stopped abruptly as she neared the edge of the cliff. She wasn’t afraid of falling to her death- the snow would save her- rather, she feared what she might find if she looked down into Arendelle. Shutting her eyes tightly, Elsa began to fight the storm inside of her.  
If she looked, she could see what state she’d left her country in, but she would remember whom she’d left behind. Both these thoughts led her to the same place- since running away was technically considered abdicating the throne, Anna was acting monarch. That alone was almost enough to send Elsa charging down the North Mountain. Her baby half-sister wasn’t ready to rule a kingdom- Anna had never had any princess lessons, or much beyond the typical royal education. Elsa hoped that Hans had even an ounce of know-how on running a kingdom. Aside from his shameless flirting and bold-faced proposal, he seemed intelligent enough.  
Looking at Arendelle one last time, Elsa turned to walk back to her icy palace, alone and free, finally accepting that she had to live her own life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is my first crossover fic, hope you like. Constructive criticism welcome!  
> -Queen Elsa Thropp


	2. Written in the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elphaba and Fiyero first encounter Elsa

Fiyero shivered slightly as Elphaba’s broom rose ever higher at a dizzying speed. Being made of straw, he couldn’t really feel varying temperatures, but he could feel the winds pulling at his body, threatening to yank him apart. Elphaba felt his body burrowing into her back and deftly rearranged her thick black cape to cover both of them. Smiling gratefully at her, Fiyero pulled himself upright to peer over her shoulder. The landscape looked generally the same, but they were so high up that everything seemed to be small specks of color. Or it would have, except that there was no color. Everything was a pure, glistening white. Elphaba and Fiyero noticed this at the same moment and Elphaba slowed the broom until they were hovering above what seemed to be the highest peak in the area. Elphaba turned around to face Fiyero, but at the very second that their eyes met, a strong gust of wind blew them and the broom, sending all three down a few hundred feet, only to crash into a layer of fresh snow.

The reason behind this sudden burst of wind was Elsa. After hours of creating ice sculptures, the small courtyard behind her palace held a veritable army of ice animals. This pastime had grown boring rather quickly, and, lacking other activities, Elsa had resorted to climbing the highest part of the palace to explore her powers, thinking that the first step was to know what she could do, no matter how it might scare her still. She’d seen something crash into her front courtyard and had run down the staircase.   
Now, Elsa was peering out the front door at a mass of black cloth, green cloth, wood, and, strangely enough, straw. Stepping through the door, she took a breath to compose herself as the heap on the ground resolved itself into two people and a broom. On second glance, the man seemed to be made of straw and the woman to have green skin. Shaking her head to clear it and refocus, Elsa stepped forward as she cleared her throat.

Elphaba’s head shot up at the slight sound. The woman she saw as soon as she turned was wearing a dress of material that appeared to be a very good imitation of ice. Her platinum blonde hair hung in a loose braid over her left shoulder and her ice-blue eyes took in the scene with a level of seriousness and clarity that betrayed her still-youthful body and face.

The questions on the tip of Elsa’s tongue faded away as the other woman turned around. Her mouth dropped open as she took in the green woman and straw man. Both seemed young, no older than her own twenty-one years, but both exuded a feeling of haggardness and exhaustion that added years to their faces.  
Taking a moment to regain her composure, Elsa stepped forward, hand extended, as she said, “My name is Elsa. The Snow Queen, or at least I suspect that’s what they’ve begun to call me back home. I have ice powers...” Elsa trailed off, torn between wanting to be honest and not wanting to share too much too quickly. “And yes, I built the castle using my powers,” she added as she followed the straw man’s upward gaze.

Nudging Fiyero to get him to stop staring, Elphaba stretched her hand out, noticing as she did so that Elsa’s hand had begun to tremble slightly. Upon contact, Elsa let out a small gasp and tried to pull away before giving one short shake. Frowning a bit, Elphaba began to introduce herself and Fiyero.  
“I’m Elphaba. They call me the Wicked Witch of the West back home. I’ve got powers, too. That’s Fiyero, my boyfriend, I suppose. Yes, I’ve always been green, and no, he hasn’t always been a straw man,” Elphaba said, taking care to answer the questions she could see Elsa had wanted to ask.  
“Right. Well, how did you get here?” Elsa asked.  
Raising her eyebrows slightly as the snow queen’s lack of surprise at her story, Elphaba held up her beat-up broom.  
“It- well it used to, before our crash- it defies gravity. Magic, and a spell from a book called the Grimmerie. Left it in Oz,” Elphaba explained, trailing off as she finished. As confused as Elsa was about the magic book, spells and flying brooms, she decided that they had other priorities.

Turning around, Elsa looked at her ice palace and sighed. So much for isolation- it looked like she would have to at least offer these two a place to stay.  
“Do you need a place to stay?” Elsa asked, turning to face Elphaba and Fiyero again. The two held a silent conversation before Elphaba shook her head at Fiyero in exasperation.  
“Actually, we were going to go down to the village. If you don’t mind,” Elphaba said, almost apologetically.  
“I don’t mind, of course, but going into the kingdom with powers is a pretty bad idea right now. I’m only up here because I got accused of sorcery,” Elsa said. Fiyero’s face lit up at this news, and Elsa assumed that he didn’t want to walk down the North Mountain- not that Elsa could blame him. Walking up had been positively awful.  
Elphaba appeared to be thinking over the options before she sighed.  
“Alright, if it’s really no trouble, we’ll stay until we figure something out. We have food, so we won’t be a bother in that case. And, uh, I can charm our beds to stay warm, since your palace is probably all ice,” Elphaba said.  
Elsa nodded in agreement, then led the pair to the palace doors. As they stared at the opulence of the ice, Elsa found an empty room on the lower floors and created a pair of ice beds. Once she’d showed them in, Elsa left to go fix up a dining room, but she never quite made it.

Elphaba and Fiyero had been laying out the things they’d need for the next few days when they heard another new voice. Elsa had made it quite clear that she was alone up here, so they assumed it was an unexpected visitor. As Fiyero made for the door, Elphaba shook her head- she didn’t want to interfere with Elsa’s life too much. A few minutes later, however, both felt a surge of magic from Elsa, heard the outside doors slam, and saw the castle walls turn a dangerous shade of red. Elphaba took this as a cue to go and try to help Elsa, but shot Fiyero a look that clearly told him to stay put.  
Running up the stairs, Elphaba cursed as she almost fell. Upon reaching the top, she looked into a large room that seemed as if it could be a ballroom, especially with the huge chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling. Scanning the room, Elphaba found Elsa quickly- she was pacing in a circle in the center of the room, right under the chandelier.  
“Elsa, calm down. Tell me what happened,” Elphaba urged. Elsa seemed not to hear and kept pacing as she muttered “Conceal, don’t feel.” Elphaba grabbed Elsa’s shoulders and looked into her eyes until Elsa snapped back to reality.  
“I...I hurt my sister. She said we could fix everything...that she could clear my name in the kingdom, but I’m too dangerous. I accidentally struck out with my magic and hit her with ice,” Elsa said, her eyes bright with tears she didn’t seem to want to let herself shed. Elphaba’s heart ached for Elsa- their stories were so similar; it was truly remarkable that they should meet. All of a sudden, both girls heard a loud crash and a deep scream. Elsa’s head shot up and she pushed Elphaba out of the ballroom. Deciding to take the hint, Elphaba sprinted back to where Fiyero was hiding, joining him in the gap between their ice beds.

Elsa, meanwhile, was fighting the Duke of Weselton’s men. As she almost killed both, Hans came rushing in, begging her to spare them. Elsa did so reluctantly, and only because she believed Hans would have news of Anna. As she turned away, however, she saw from the corner of her eye an arrow strike the chandelier. The last thing she saw before blacking out was Hans holding back the Duke’s men and ordering his own men to pull out a set of handcuffs- or hand cages, really- that Elsa knew all too well.

Fiyero clambered onto the closer of the two beds as they heard clanking followed by grunts and scraping ice. As he turned to find Elphaba, he saw her already at the room’s door, gently opening it with magic. Gesturing at him to follow, she ran up the stairs, skipping every other one in her haste. Shaking his head in confusion about Elphaba’s sudden and huge concern for this girl, Fiyero followed her as fast as he could.  
When he finally caught up, forced to slide to a halt in the doorway of the ballroom, Fiyero surveyed the damage. Chandelier down, inexplicable piles of ice and snow, multiple arrow shots that seemed to have taken down the chandelier. Scanning the room, he found Elphaba crouched on the floor, holding something small tightly in her fist. As he walked over, she raised her head to meet his eyes and opened her hand to show him what she had found. He looked down to see a small green glass bottle, similar to those in which he had seen Vinkun wine samples distributed. Frowning in confusion, Fiyero took the bottle from her to inspect it further. Feeling scratch marks against his fingers, he turned it over and saw a coating of ice and dirt. As Elphaba watched, Fiyero pulled out a piece of cloth and began to try to clean it. Upon noticing that he wasn't making much progress, Elphaba took the bottle and used the last of the water in their supply to make short work of the residual dirt.  
And then Elphaba dropped the bottle.  
Luckily, it fell onto Fiyero’s straw foot and didn’t break. Bending over to pick it up, Fiyero understood immediately why she’d dropped it. The glasswork of the bottle itself was highly impressive, a cylindrical shape with a swan’s neck and with a glass-topped cork. The craftsmanship wasn’t the first thing either noticed. Nor was the color of the bottle, though both would soon take note of the fact that it matched Elphaba’s skin exactly- a bright emerald color. No, what both the Prince of the Vinkus and the Wicked Witch of the West noticed first was the engraved seal on the bottle.  
It was the letter Z inside of an O.  
“I…I don’t know, Fiyero. I don’t know what this means. Clearly, this is from Oz. But how did it get here? How could it have gotten here? Does this mean Oz and Arendelle trade with one another?” she asked him, raising her eyes from the bottle in his hand to meet his eyes.   
“They don't trade, or I would have known about it. My father handled all the trade Oz did with other countries, and he training me take over, so I’d have known,” Fiyero said as the feeling came simultaneously over himself and Elphaba that their planned escape from anything and everything Oz wasn’t going very well so far.  
“What do we do, Fiyero? She- Elsa- said not to go down into the villages or towns since they aren’t friendly to sorcery, but I can’t just let them take her away. You saw this room. They didn’t come to get her out of the goodness of their hearts!” Elphaba’s voice had begun questioningly and quiet but had risen to a shout.  
“Hey, calm down, Fae. We’ll figure it out. I agree that we can’t go down into the village but maybe we can fly above it and find out something that will help us know what’s happening. How about you go grab the broomstick while I put some snow in the water bottles to melt? I’ll meet you at the doors in ten minutes, okay?” Fiyero suggested, feeling a strange sense wash over him at having a plan for once.  
Elphaba looked at him, steadied by his plan but also surprised by it. She, the practical one, was wondering about destiny, while the straw man was making the plans. Nodding in agreement, she walked back down the stairs and found the broom where she’d left in on the bed. At the front doors, Fiyero jumped onto the broom behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Taking a look down at the icy palace floor, Elphaba kicked off and flew out the double doors.  
About half an hour later, Elphaba pulled the broom to a sudden stop. Fiyero glanced over her shoulder to see why and could do nothing but stare in surprise at the scene that they saw developing below them.  
In a small valley between two of the lower peaks, a group consisting of a girl with red and white hair, a blond mountain man, a reindeer, and a walking snowman was surrounded by moving rocks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism welcome. :)  
> Updates may be sporadic, apologies in advance.  
> -Queen Elsa Thropp


	3. Shadows Have More to Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realizations are made. Some things are resolved. More issues present themselves.

Elphaba slowly let the broom drop a few feet, both herself and Fiyero in shock over the group beneath them. As they kept watching, there was a strange sequence of what appeared to be song and wedding, though it seemed to have been stopped early. Minutes later, the entire group turned and jumped onto the reindeer, the girl in the man’s arms, having moments before fainted, and the snowman just barely getting on in time.  
“Yero. Do you think they're going to wherever they took Elsa? Wherever that may be,” Elphaba asked, already turning the broom and beginning to follow a safe distance above the reindeer.  
“Yeah, probably. I guess. I mean, yeah, follow them, we’ll probably find her,” Fiyero said, still slightly miffed that this girl was getting so much attention from his Fae- more than even he did. Elphaba heard the annoyance in his voice and frowned.  
“Fiyero Tigelaar. I know you wanted to just set down somewhere and live out our lives together, but something’s pulling me toward this girl. I felt it even before we found that glass bottle and it’s even stronger now. Besides, she said she hit her sister in the head or heart, somewhere, with ice, maybe this girl is her sister. Please, Fiyero, we’ll figure it out as we go but I need to do this right now,” Elphaba said quietly, half-turning to look into his eyes.  
“I understand, really, Fae. Once we get this sorted out, we can figure out what’s happened between Arendelle and Oz, with that bottle and all. And maybe that will change everything,” Fiyero said, leaning forward to kiss Elphaba.  
Smiling against his lips, Elphaba kissed him back before turning forward to keep an eye on the reindeer. As both settled in for what promised to be an interesting ride through what was quickly becoming a blizzard, Elphaba began thinking about Elsa and why she felt so drawn to her, while Fiyero’s mind turned to what could happen after this all played out and what they might learn from Arendelle.

Upon waking in the most secure cell in her own palace, Queen Elsa of Arendelle became highly worried. Hans hadn’t told her what had happened to Anna and she didn’t know if her “guests” at the ice palace had listened to her when she’d told them not to go to the village.  
The door creaked, pulling her from her melancholy thoughts, opening to reveal Prince Hans. Dragging the chains as far as they would go. Elsa attempted to explain the futility of trying to get the storm to stop, since she didn’t know how. Hans didn’t react at all except to turn around in a manner that suggested he was calling for reinforcements. As he turned his back. Elsa’s anger and frustration overwhelmed her.  
Hans and his soldiers were greeted with an empty room upon turning back to where Elsa should have been.   
Desperately grabbing a sword from the closest guard’s scabbard, Hans sprinted out onto the icy fjord, hoping against hope that he could reach her in time and tell her she’d killed Anna. When he was just a few steps he called out to her, causing her to fall onto the ground. As the sword swept down, two things happened. Anna, ice crawling up her wrists and arms to her lips, stepped into the sword’s path, causing it to hit her as she turned fully to ice. The second thing, though, was even more surprising. Hans heard a voice that sounded deeper and throaty but otherwise mirrored Elsa’s shout out, followed by a sighting of what he could have sworn was a broomstick fly overhead.

Elphaba stared in dismay at the scene unfolding in front, or rather below, them. She was sure now that the red and white haired girl was Elsa’s sister, and she had clearly just sacrificed herself in some way for Elsa. And the redheaded prince had just tried to kill Elsa. Elphaba was about to land the broom when Elsa looked up at Anna in surprise as the younger girl melted.  
Moments later, the fjord was cleared of ice, Anna was unfrozen, and everyone had returned to the palace, save the prince and some funny little white-haired man who looked as if he held some authority somewhere.   
As Elphaba and Fiyero continued to hover above the fjord and watch events happen, they saw Hans get thrown into a boat prison cell and the white-haired man (whom they had since figured out was a duke, based on conversations) be forcefully put on his boat and sent off to wherever he lived.  
Finally, as the dock cleared of random citizens, Elphaba lowered the broom so that she and Fiyero could climb off. Orienting themselves, both began up the path to the palace, receiving surprisingly few strange looks from people, though they supposed having an ice queen might make other things seem less strange.  
Out of nowhere, Elphaba stopped in shock, looking at a point about twice her height. Following her gaze, Fiyero saw nothing but a tall pole with a pennant on it and the sky behind it. Upon closer inspection, however, she seemed to be staring at the palace’s tower, which held a shield with a golden flower embroidered over a green and purple background.  
Elphaba was beginning to pull off her hat when Elsa came striding out of the palace. Hastily putting the hat back on, Elphaba straightened her back and looked at the other girl, half smiling in relief at seeing her safe.

Elsa frowned in confusion at Elphaba’s strange behavior but shrugged it off, deciding that was a matter to be pressed later. Gesturing to the pair, she invited them into the palace, much to the shock of the few watching citizens, used to the palace’s self-isolation as they were.  
“So, Elsa, I guess everything’s been sorted out here then,” Elphaba murmured as they all walked into the palace via the grand doors.  
“Yes, well, I suppose. You both are welcome to stay here or in the ice palace, if you’d prefer,” Elsa offered, feeling traces of guilt at what had happened on the North Mountain, despite being blameless for most of it.  
Fiyero looked like he was very split on both offers, and Elphaba knew it was because he was ready to leave Arendelle and move on to somewhere that would allow them to live their lives in peace. However, the shield on the tower’s side was telling her that she needed to stay and figure this out. While it was true that she wasn’t normally one for signs or superstition, she’d realized since her departure from Shiz that life wasn’t always about plans, as nice as they were. Sometimes, it was necessary to jump headfirst into a situation, as she’d done with her defense of the Animals and even loving Fiyero. For these reasons, she gave the answer that she did.  
“Elsa, if it’s not too much trouble, I think we’ll stay here for a little while. I don’t know where is best for you,” Elphaba said, twisting her hands under the table as she said it- asking for things had never come naturally to her, thanks to the numerous rejections she’d suffered from her parents as a child.  
“Here in the palace is really fine. We’ve got plenty of spare rooms, and besides, it’d probably be safer. The citizens of Arendelle may seem happy now, but that’s mostly because we’ve got a stable government again. I’m certain they’re still wary of magic and, well, one of you is made of straw,” Elsa said, standing as she did.  
Elphaba and Fiyero followed her lead and stood. As Elsa led them out the door, Fiyero gave Elphaba a look of confusion, clearly asking why she wanted to stay in Arendelle. Shaking her head, she pointed at Elsa’s back, telling him silently that it was a private matter. At his nod, Elphaba turned forward again.  
Upon reaching a plain wooden door, Elsa turned to the two.   
“Here’s where you can stay. We’ll figure out dining and such later, everything’s been fairly independent the past three years or so. I’ll leave you to settle in and send someone at dinnertime,” she said, already turning to go.  
“Thanks,” Fiyero called after her retreating back, getting a simple nod in return. Opening the door, he gasped when he saw the elegance of the room, which was remarkable for something behind such a simple door. It far outstripped even his family’s more used castle, which his ancestors had poured decades of effort into.

Elphaba, however, had strode past him into the room and was now inspecting the brim of her hat. Walking behind her, Fiyero tried to glimpse what she was staring so intently at, but gave up when she turned away from him. Sitting down on the bed, he waited, knowing that eventually she’d start talking.  
Moments later, she turned to face him. Fiyero looked up as she did and was surprised by the look of deep thoughtfulness on her face. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he nodded at her hat.  
“What’s so important that’s in your hat?” he asked, trying to ease her into the conversation that he could sense she wanted to have.  
“It’s not much…” she started, only to have him shake his head emphatically at her. Sighing, she resettled herself on the bed, resigned to explaining to him something she wasn’t even sure about herself.  
“You know I said I felt a strange connection to Elsa, right?” Elphaba asked, waiting for his nod of confirmation before continuing, “Well, we found that glass green bottle with Oz’s symbol on it and now there’s that flower on the side of the tower outside.”  
Fiyero frowned in confusion. Seeing this, Elphaba turned her hat towards him so that he could see the scrap of cloth sewn into the brim. When he looked at it, the significance didn’t click immediately, prompting her to explain.  
“Did you see the shield on the tower wall on our way inside the castle?” Elphaba asked him. Upon his affirmative nod, she continued, “Well, after my…uh, Melena, died, Frex gave it to me and told me that I wasn’t related to them, nor had I ever been.”  
Fiyero’s mouth dropped open at this revelation, but he didn’t say anything. Elphaba sat and watched him think things over, having already resolved to letting him figure out himself why staying in Arendelle was so important to her.  
A few minutes later, Fiyero shook his head and said, “I still don’t get it, Fae. What’s so important about Arendelle? I mean, I heard what you said and I see the thing you sewed in your hat and I saw the flower. But I can’t connect it all.”  
“I know you’re a scarecrow, but you’ve still got brains,” Elphaba sighed, only half-joking. Fiyero looked offended before realizing that she wasn’t totally serious. Taking a second look at the hat, he threw his hands up.  
“Really, Fae. I don’t understand,” Fiyero said, genuine apology and regret showing through his voice. Elphaba nodded, her lips pressed together tightly. A few deep breaths later, she opened her mouth to speak.  
“You know I have this hat with this little scrap of green and purple cloth. And you know that we picked up that little green bottle from Oz in Elsa’s ice palace, when we ran after her,” Elphaba said, looking to Fiyero for confirmation that he’d heard what she’d recounted. At his hand gesture, she continued, “Well, it has to be connected somehow, right? There’s too much overlap for it to be coincidence. And I got this cloth from…from Nessa’s parents. I don’t know who gave this bottle to Elsa or how she got it, but I’m willing to bet it’s not random.”  
Fiyero nodded his head in agreement, but shook his head when she looked at him to see if he comprehended now why Arendelle was so important to her. Elphaba ran her hands over her face, summoning up the courage to tell him what she suspected, hoped, or both.  
“I think Elsa’s my sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO! Constructive criticism welcome! Thank you for reading!  
> -Queen Elsa Thropp


End file.
